January 22 2007

I've spent most of the day directing or echoing comments from others. I listened intently during the press conference and blogger Q&A, I scanned the "lotusphere2007" postings, I read the media coverage. Now during a short breather, I would like to share my thoughts on what was announced and discussed in sessions so far today.

First off, it's been incredible to see the crowds and enthusiasm today. In some ways, this feels like the most intense Lotusphere -- we haven't had a crowd this size in a "two hotel" format, with all the breakouts being in the Dolphin and Swan. I know that many sessions have "sold out", and the content team is quickly adding more repeats and even more repeats on key sessions.

As for today's content. I was talking with Mike Moignard in the hall, and he noted that there had been very little competitive positioning in the general session. I said, to borrow the metaphor of the day, that IBM Lotus is now in such a different universe than the competition, it hardly seems appropriate to be making comparisons. Besides, we had so much new news to cover, why spend any cycles on those other guys?

In the Notes/Domino space, there's a lot to like about today's content. First, Ken Bisconti specifically called out 30% growth for Notes/Domino in his OGS comments. This is the first time in quite some time I can recall one of our executive explicitly revealing per-product results. I felt this was key, as some skeptics thought maybe that Lotus's phenomenal Q4 was accomplished through other portfolio products. Now you know that we did it with Notes as much as anything else. Ken also made a public announcement of the "Domino release beyond 8", and Kevin Cavanaugh followed it up later in the day with some specific feature commitments for that release (I'll write those up at a later point). With all of that, the task of talking about the amazing progress being made in Notes 8 was left for breakout sessions -- and those have been overflowing. The bottom line for many is that there's not even a hint of confusion anymore -- Ken said point blank, "Lotus Notes is the 'one and only' strategic e-mail platform for IBM."

The biggest buzz I've heard so far today is about Lotus Quickr. It's clear that this teamspace product hits a sweet spot in the market for capabilities, openness, and integration. You'll definitely want to check out ID308 tomorrow at 1:30 for more details. I've taken a peek at their presentation, and it feels like they just nailed it -- exactly what users are demanding, with the capability to work with a variety of back-ends -- rather than introduce yet another one.

The mini-keynote on Lotus Connections is starting in just a few minutes -- and I'll bet the room is full. While the 10 minute section of the keynote announced the product, most I've talked to are seeking the next level of detail on that offering. Some interesting questions about it in the press conference as well.

Last, I think that Alistair Rennie's section of the keynote might have gone by too quickly. Maybe he need to do a "developers! developers! developers!"-style monkey dance. But people I've talked to who went to sessions on Lotus Component Designer and composite applications say they get it -- that their skills are moving forward without having to walk away from what they know now.

Thank you to all who have introduced themselves so far -- please don't be shy, it's great to put faces and names together. And don't forget--you can still read the transcript of the live blogging from the Lotusphere opening general session on www.lotuspherelive.com.